Obama expresses ‘great sense of urgency’ over immigration reform

President Obama meets with Congressional Hispanic Caucus leaders. At the president's right is Texas Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, the CHC chair. (White House photo)

President Obama “expressed a great sense of urgency” over comprehensive immigration reform, a senior House Democrat said after a closed-door meeting in the Oval Office.

Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, said he was confident that Obama would aggressively pursue immigration legislation in the near future.

“Immigration reform is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when,’” Becerra said. “Now is the time and this is our moment. After today’s meeting, it’s clear that President Obama is determined to fix our long-broken immigration system.”

Obama met today with the leadership of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including chairman Rubén Hinojosa, a Democrat from Mercedes. The meeting came five days before the president plans to underscore his support for comprehensive immigration reform during a major policy address in Las Vegas.

“The President’s commitment to comprehensive immigration reform has been clear for a very long time, and it has been detailed for a very long time,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters after the meeting.

During the meeting, he previewed the message he will deliver in Las Vegas on Jan. 29.

The White House later released a statement saying that immigration is “a top legislative priority” and that Obama will “redouble the administration’s efforts to work with Congress to fix the broken immigration system this year.”

The administration statement also included a key political nugget: that any proposal coming from the White House will include a pathway to citizenship for people currently living in the U.S. without legal documentation. The statement noted that the president and lawmakers agreed that “any legislation must include a path to earned citizenship.”

Some Republicans have endorsed immigration reform containing a pathway to legal residency in the United States, but GOP congressional leaders have been afraid to speak out specifically in favor of citizenship — fearing a backlash from Tea Party elements within the GOP.

After the meeting, Becerra said that members of the Hispanic caucus who have pushed reform “even during the darkest times” in the immigration debate, “are ready to work with the president and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to lead the way.”